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GREENVILLE, S.C. – Competing in its first Southern Conference Tournament in seven years, the No. 7-seeded Wofford volleyball team gave No. 2-seeded Furman everything it could handle but fell in a five-set thriller (27-25, 18-25, 19-25, 25-23, 12-15) Friday night in the quarterfinal round from Furman's Timmons Arena.
 
The opening set truly set the tone for what was an entertaining back-and-forth match. It had 16 ties and seven lead changes. Furman led 24-23 to earn the first set point of the match, but the Terriers saved it and rallied for a 27-25 first-set win. From there, Furman controlled sets two and three, and led Wofford by as many as five in the fourth. The Terriers came all the way back to take its first lead at 22-21 and put the Paladins on their heels with a 25-23 set victory to bring the quarterfinal to a decisive fifth set.
 
The final set did not disappoint. It saw 10 ties and was level at 12 apiece before Furman rattled off two straight points to earn a shot at the match. Wofford called a timeout and the ensuing serve by Andrea Fisher clipped the sideline to send Furman to the semifinals.
 
"Heading into this match, I was afraid these girls would be happy with just making it here and not play. That was not the case," Wofford first-year head coach Ron Sweet said. "This team gave Furman a real fight and played with a winning mentality. Years from now, they were going to remember this match whether they played great or whether they didn't, and I'm happy they'll remember it for being one of the best matches they have ever played."
 
Junior Taylor Baird highlighted the Terrier effort with a match-high 26 kills, one off her career-high, hitting .360 for the match (26-8-50). Baird added two digs, an ace and a block.
 
Playing in their final matches, seniors Wendy Burnett, Bekah Dorsey and Amanda Liguori left it all on the court. Burnett hit .421, had 19 kills and a team-high four blocks, Liguori posted a double-double of 13 kills and 11 digs, and Dorsey posted a double-double of 55 assists and 10 digs.
 
The Terriers also saw Jessica Graham post her first collegiate double-double. The sophomore llbero had a match-high 25 digs and a career-high 10 assists, completing the season with double-figure digs in 30 of Wofford's 32 matches. Classmate Liz Buterbaugh went for eight kills and a block.
 
With the loss, Wofford concludes its 2013 campaign with a 13-19 overall record, along with its 7-9 mark in Southern Conference play. Its seven conference wins tie for the second most in program history, while the .438 winning percentage ranks second best in Wofford's 17 years in the Southern Conference. The last time the Terriers won seven league matches was in 2005, posting a 7-11 mark, and Wofford's 9-11 record in 2001 remains the program's winningest SoCon season.
 
Wofford had plenty of other memorable moments during the 2013 season. For the first time since joining the Southern Conference, the Terriers won three consecutive league matches with wins over The Citadel, Western Carolina and Appalachian State. Liguori surpassed Andrea Duke (2001, 2003-04) as Wofford's all-time kills leader and became a member of the 1,000-kill, 1,000-dig club. Dorsey eclipsed both 3,000 career assists and 1,000 digs, becoming just the second Terrier to accomplish the feat. Also, at the end of the regular season, Baird earned Second Team All-Conference honors, becoming just the second Terrier in program history to be recognized on the all-conference list.
 
On top of all that, Wofford made its fifth ever appearance in the Southern Conference Tournament Championship. Its seventh place finish in the league ties for its best ever with the 2001 and '05 squads, while its No. 7 seed in the conference tournament ties for its best with just the '05 Terriers. Going five sets in a quarterfinal was also a first for the Terrier volleyball program. In its two previous quarterfinal appearances, Wofford was swept in three.
 
Friday night's last quarterfinal provided the excitement missing from Timmons Arena all day. In the three previous matches contested, the winner was decided in three sets. No. 5 Appalachian State took down No. 4 UNCG, No. 1 Georgia Southern swept No. 8 Elon, and No. 3 Samford took care of No. 6 Western Carolina.
 
The Terriers and Paladins put on a show. In the opener, Wofford hit .311 and was led by five kills apiece from Burnett and Liguori. Burnett went without an error on eight attempts, while Liguori committed just a single error on 13 attempts. Furman hit .270 behind four kills from First Team All-Conference selection Christina Dorismond, while Andrea Fisher and SoCon Freshman of the Year, Ashton Gregory, put down three.
 
The first-set lead changed hands seven times and at no point in the set did either side lead by more than two. Wofford spent its second and final timeout of the set after Furman scored two consecutive points for a 23-21 lead, and Liguori came out of the timeout with a kill followed by a service ace to level the match once more. A Dorismond kill earned Furman set point, but Baird saved it with a kill. Dorismond looked for another response, but this time her attack was off and Wofford led 25-24 as SoCon Coach of the Year, Michelle Young, called her second timeout.
 
Annie Bierman brought the set to its 16th tie with a kill out of the timeout. Burnett put down a quick response to grab the Terriers another set point and this time they converted as Burnett and freshman Ellie Tallman blocked a Dorismond attack to give the Terriers an edge, 27-25.
 
Hosting the tournament and with plenty of fans cheering them on, the Paladins answered by outhitting Wofford .333 to .118 in the second for a seven-point win. Wofford led just once and when Furman grabbed the lead, it never gave it back. Baird was impressive with six kills on no errors on nine attempts, but Fisher and Gregory led Furman with four kills apiece and Furman had just three attack errors to Wofford's nine.
 
Wofford earned a lead with the first two points of the set, but gave it away to the Paladins when Liguori's attack missed to put the Terriers down 8-7. The set remained close until 13-all. Fisher put down a kill and followed it up with an ace, then Gregory and Casey Wells blocked Tallman to award Furman a 16-13 lead as Coach Sweet called timeout. The stoppage did little to stop the Furman run, as the Paladins ended the set scoring 12 of the last 17 points to level the match.
 
Furman carried its momentum out of the locker room and took a quick 10-5 lead in the third. Again, the Paladins outhit Wofford, .240 to .184, but the Terriers had 13 kills to Furman's 10. Wofford was bitten by six serving errors in the set, essentially handing Furman six of its points. The costly errors allowed Furman to hold off several Wofford mini-rallies. After trailing by five at 18-13, Wofford got the set back within two at 18-16 and 19-17, but had a service error on its next two serves and Furman ran away with the set, taking a 2-1 lead in the match on another Dorismond kill.
 
Furman led the fourth most of the way, but Wofford turned it on through the set and hit .282 with 16 kills to stay in the match. Baird was a big contributor, posting another six-kill set, while Burnett had five kills on 10 swings. The Paladins led 13-8 when Coach Sweet called his first timeout of the set. The Terriers then went on a 4-0 run to get back within a point and make a set out of what looked like it could have been an easy Furman win. Wofford got its first tie at 14-14 with a Baird ace, tying the score at 15-all and again at 16-all. Gregory turned it on with the next three points on three straight kills and Coach Sweet called his second timeout to stop the run.
 
Again, Wofford responded out of a timeout. Two straight points went to Wofford to get the set back within a point and Baird lit up with three consecutive kills to give Wofford a 23-21 advantage. The two sides traded errors to give Wofford two set points. Fisher put down a kill to save one, but Burnett slammed home the set winner to send the match to a tiebreaking fifth set.
 
In the short fifth set, Baird had five kills and hit .444 with just a single error on nine attempts. The rest of the Terrier squad could not back her up and Furman used four kills by Dorismond to hit .294 to Wofford's .136. Still, the Terriers hung tough and contested 10 ties. Wofford scored the first point and led on two more occasions at 5-4 and 6-5. Furman went on to score four of the next five points to establish a 9-7 lead, but the Terriers kept hanging around, tying the match 10-10, 11-11 and 12-12 with a Liguori kill.
 
Furman's block ultimately won the match. With the score 12-12, Gregory and Casey Wells blocked Burnett. On the next point, Gregory solo blocked Liguori to earn the Paladins two shots at the match. Coach Sweet called a timeout and drew up a play for Furman's next serve, but it never happened. Fisher served a ball down the line and Liguori watched it fall at her feet and clip the line as the line judge called it in, ending Wofford's season.